Things to do on a weekend break in Wales Things to do on a weekend break in Wales

Why Wales is the perfect weekend break

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hether you want to scale a mountain or explore a city, tour an art gallery or bike through a forest, savour a tasting menu or polish off a lamb chop, there's something in Wales for you. It’s close enough to be accessible for a short break, and varied enough that you can pack a lot into a short space. It’s beautiful and gritty, ancient and modern and there’s a warm welcome waiting. Your first visit won’t be your last.

Enjoy simple, yet flavoursome cuisine

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The capacity to bankrupt the entireoperation – the capacity for loss – is immense

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For a mix of old and new cultures, thriving food scene and roof-raising events, head to Europe's youngest capital city. See the largest collection of impressionist art outside Paris at the National Museum. Hear a concert at the Wales Millennium Centre. Stroll around the reborn waterfront and sip cocktails at Mermaid Quay. Nibble a fabulous Welsh cake, and browse the world’s oldest record shop.

Cardiff

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Route map to the real Wales

Introducing exciting new routes to take through Wales, whether you’re a first-time or return visitor

If you’re new to Wales, the Cambrian Way touring route offers a perfect introduction. It’s part of the Wales Way, three national routes designed to guide you into the heart of the real Wales. Bookended by the grand Victorian resort of Llandudno and the multi-layered city of Cardiff, it meanders almost 200 miles along the entire length of the country, through two National Parks – rocky, lake-speckled Snowdonia and the grassy ridges and mossy glens of the Brecon Beacons – with the wild and beautiful Cambrian Mountains in between.

It mostly follows the main A470 – living proof that you can experience Wales’s superb landscape without resorting to single-track lanes with grass growing down the middle – and it’s guaranteed to surprise and delight. Want to know why it’s so remarkable? Bodnant Garden in Snowdonia is one of the most glorious in Britain, a Welsh hillside transfigured into an Italian water garden, Himalayan glade, fairytale forest and more. St Fagans near Cardiff hosts one of the world’s finest open-air museums, where you can nose around dozens of traditional Welsh buildings, watch a blacksmith at work, or take a course in spoon carving. Perhaps you need to de-stress? Turn off at Rhayader and explore the lovely Elan Valley, where Victorian engineers turned a remote landscape of moorland and woods into a mini-Lake District of still waters and stately dams. Or linger in the Brecon Beacons to explore the clutch of tree-shrouded waterfalls in the Vale of Neath and stride to the panoramic summit of Pen y Fan, the highest peak in South Wales at 2,907ft.

Culture

Have you ever slept at a literary giant’s house? You can in Wales. At Dylan Thomas’s childhood home in Swansea they do suppers, soirées and even B&B. The Welsh are like that with their culture – unstuffy and keen to share. If you’re a Thomas aficionado don’t miss the Dylan Thomas Centre in Swansea and his last home in Laugharne. And of course there’s the Hay Festival in May, arguably the world’s premier literary shindig. The Welsh language may look unpronounceable but it’s not. Learn the rules and you’ll always get it right because (unlike English) it’s entirely phonetic. Spend a few nights at Nant Gwrtheyrn Welsh language centre near Pwllheli and they’ll gladly teach you.

Music and theatre are in the Celtic blood. Catch Jools Holland or Frankie Valli at Cardiff’s Motorpoint Arena or the BBC National Orchestra of Wales at St David’s Hall. Pick your favourite male voice choir at the International North Wales Choral Festival in Llandudno (2-4 November), or see a new play at Theatr Clwyd in Mold. The beauty of Wales is rightly celebrated on canvas. The Royal Cambrian Academy in Conwy showcases more than 100 living Welsh artists. Oriel Ynys Môn in Anglesey has a splendid collection of work by local star Kyffin Williams, and Oriel y Parc landscape gallery in St Davids has just opened a celebration of the Pembrokeshire coast.

Discover the real Cymru at countless cultural gems

Cwmorthin

Conway Castle (left), traditional folk dancing (top right), Anglesey (bottom right)

Where to try local Welsh food

Enjoy simple, yet flavoursome cuisine

The Walnut Tree Inn, Abergavenny. Superlative without being stuffy, Michelin-star veteran Shaun Hill mixes seasonal variation with personal flair in Wales’s food capital.

Tyddyn Llan, near Corwen. A Michelin-starred former farmhouse where the welcome is as hearty as the food: classic staples and gourmet specials, made with carefully sourced seasonal ingredients.

An unforgettable dining experience

The Potted Pig, Cardiff. The owners claim that: “Big flavours, generous portions and high-quality ingredients” make up the menu here: a mix of traditional British grub, New York flavours and a soupçon of French haute cuisine.

Top-quality, gourmet cuisine

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